NEW ORLEANS: Last season was a big year for the VooDoo, as the team snapped a 12-game home losing streak dating back to 2008 and made the playoffs for the first time since 2004. Much of the resurgence can be credited to head coach Pat O'Hara and his quarterback Kurt Rocco. Rocco made great strides in his first season in New Orleans, setting single-season franchise records with 5,317 passing yards and 107 touchdowns. If that progress continues, there will be plenty of cheering in 'The Graveyard' this season. However, the VooDoo will have some obstacles to overcome. On the offensive side of the ball, Rocco will be without three of his four favorite targets from a year ago, as Josh Bush, L.J. Castile and Greg Ellingson all found new homes in free agency. On the plus side, the team did acquire former All-Arena receiver Donovan Morgan in an offseason trade. The offense will depend heavily on Morgan's experience and playmaking ability to pick up the slack for the departed talent. O'Hara's squad will need players to step up on the defensive side as well. New Orleans lost two 2012 All-Arena selections in free agency, as Jack linebacker Alvin Ray Jackson relocated to Pittsburgh, while defensive back Jeremy Kellem joined up with the defending ArenaBowl champion Arizona Rattlers. The additions of Eddie Moten, Derrick Boyd and Dustin Bell, as well as 2012 holdover Demarcus Robinson and a wildcard in former LSU recruit Delvin Breaux, should assist in softening the blow dealt to the secondary. With so many new faces, the group that could be the biggest difference makers is the defensive line, a youthful unit that showed dramatic improvement upon the acquisition of Xavier Brown last season. If Brown, Marlon Favorite and Derandus Frye continue to progress in their sophomore campaigns, the VooDoo will be in good shape. Opposing quarterbacks, however, may not be

UTAH: The Utah Blaze, blessed with one of the most electric attacks in the Arena Football League in 2012, experienced a fair amount of turnover in their receiving corps during the offseason. Tysson Poots, one of the toughest young receivers in the game, bolted to division rival Arizona. Similarly, Alvance Robinson, who posted 1,015 receiving yards in 10 games with the Blaze last season, has been assigned to another ArenaBowl contender in Philadelphia. The Blaze didn't waste time mourning, however, bringing in potent weapons in L.J. Castile, who recorded 1,196 receiving yards for New Orleans last season, and Jared Jenkins, who reeled off 119 receptions for 1,610 yards as a rookie with the Milwaukee Mustangs last year. Castile and Jenkins will join Aaron Lesue ' who more than doubled his touchdown total from 27 in 2011 to 56 last season ' in providing Utah with a three-headed monster at the receiver position. Where it matters most, however, the Blaze have remained stable, with quarterback Tommy Grady coming back after a record-breaking year in Salt Lake City and Ben Stallings, the franchise's all-time leading rusher, returning to Utah for a third year. So long as the Blaze have Tommy 'The Tower' Grady, who accumulated an unbelievable 5,870 passing yards and 142 touchdowns last season, they will be head and shoulders above most defenses in the AFL ' literally and figuratively. On the defensive side of the ball, 'Sack Lake City' took a bit of a hit themselves with the departure of Mike Lewis, who compiled 23 sacks during his two years in Utah. Utah will now rely on Mike Alston to help keep offensive lines from doubling up on Caesar Rayford, who is the franchise record holder with 23.5 career sacks, and Keenan Mace, who flashed All-Arena potential as a rookie nose guard last season. With Mace and Rayford still donning the orange and black, the Blaze should be able to generate an above-average pass rush, which when combined with experienced defensive backs in Al Phillips and Josh Ferguson should lead to poise in their pass defense. Phillips and Ferguson will need to emerge as leaders, however, given that the Blaze have five rookie defensive backs on their roster at the moment, and veteran leader David Hyland remains a free agent. While the spotlight will surely shine on the Blaze as they attempt to wrest West Division supremacy from the Rattlers, attention should also be paid to an emerging rivalry between Utah and Spokane, from which the Blaze took offensive lineman Shannon Tevaga, as well as Alston and Ferguson.